November 30, 2012

In early October, I got a bag of dried enoki from a neighbor. I added some of it to miso soup, fried rice, and some other dishes. Yesterday, I decided to add the rest of it to kakiage.

I first microwaved it for 20 seconds or so to bring out the dried squid-like flavor.

10月初め、近所の人から干しえのきをもらいました。味噌汁やチャーハンなどに入れました。昨日は、残りをかき揚げに入れることにしました。

まず、電子レンジで20秒ほど加熱して、するめに似た風味を出しました。

Then, I added it to the carrot and onion.

次ににんじんと玉ねぎと混ぜました。

I first made gyoniku (fishmeat) tempura, followed by kabocha tempura and sweet potato tempura.

最初に魚肉ソーセージ天ぷら、次にかぼちゃの天ぷらとサツマイモの天ぷらを作りました。

The tempura batter was a little too thick for kakiage, so I added some water. When making kakiage, make sure you leave extra batter in the bowl when scooping up some of the ingredients (using a spoon, a slotted ladle, a pair of chopstick, or something similar) to put in the fryer, because no one wants to have heavy kakiage.

November 28, 2012

Tonight, I went to the tasting party held at the izakaya (Japanese pub) that will open on December 1 near my house. Ten dishes and as much alcohol as you can drink for 3,000 yen, and you will receive gift certificates worth 3,000 yen that are valid to the izakaya. It was hard not to go to the tasting party.

Despite what he said to me, I think shougoin daikon is better in simmered dishes and when pickled.

父はそう言ってますが、私は聖護院大根は煮物や漬物にしたほうが美味しいと思います。

A fukusai (side dish) I made for supper tonight was simmered hijiki. As usual, I added some uchi mame.

今日の夕飯の副菜として、ひじきの煮物も作りました。いつも通り、うち豆を入れました。

As I mentioned several times in my blog, uchi mame (lit. beaten beans) are soybeans beaten flat. They are a specialty of Niigata that I learned about after I came here. A great advantage is that they can be cooked in a short time of about 5 min.

November 25, 2012

First, cut an x on the skin of each of four slices of saba.
Then, pour boiling water over them to remove odor. This step is called shimofuri (lit. frosting).
Shimofuri can also mean marbled/marbling, as in shimofuri niku (marbled meat).
Place in a frying pan, and add:

175 ml water

25 ml sake
1 knob ginger, sliced

Then, I decided to add mirin (about 50 ml), not sugar, to the pan.

Put on an otoshi buta (lit. drop lid) or something similar (aluminum foil or paper towels), and put on a lid. Simmer for 2-3 min. Add some miso (2-3 tbsp) to the pan. Simmer for another 5 min. or so.

November 24, 2012

This is my very first attempt to make daikon mochi. I searched for recipes and found some. I decided to mix 400 g grated daikon with 200 g katakuriko (potato starch) and add some shredded naga negi and some salt only (no dried shrimp, etc.) I also decided to pan-fry it in much the same way as I would make a pan cake.

Needless to say, wasabi is called wasabi in Japan, but to clearly distinguish it from horse radish, which is called seiyou wasabi (lit. Western wasabi), it is also called hon wasabi. Hon means real, authentic, etc.

The term "hon wasabi" is placed before the term "seiyou wasabi", which means that this packet contains more "hon wasabi" than "seiyou wasabi".

「本わさび」という言葉が「西洋わさび」より先に表示されていて、これは、「本わさび」のほうが「西洋わさび」より量が多いということです。

I checked other wasabi packets, which happened to be in the fridge, and found they also contained more "hon wasabi" than "seiyou wasabi".

たまたま冷蔵庫にあった、他のわさびの小袋も調べましたが、それらも「本わさび」のほうが「西洋わさび」より量が多かったです。

I didn't know that even such cheap products now contain more hon wasabi. What's more, the one below says that it uses domestic hon wasabi.

こんな安い製品にも現在では本わさびのほうが多いとは知りませんでした。その上、下の製品では、国内産の本わさびを使用していると書かれています。

There are some tubes of wasabi that contain no seiyou wasabi, like the middle one in the photo below.

下の写真の真ん中の製品のように、西洋わさびを含まない製品もあります。

I tend to buy such a tube because it's only about 1.7 times more expensive than a cheap one that contains both hon and seiyou wasabi.

本わさびと西洋わさびを両方含んでいる安いのより1.7倍程度高いだけなので、私はこのような製品を買うことが多いです。

The one on the left is a new product from S&B, called Kizami Wasabi, which contains shredded wasabi stalks.

左のは「きざみわさび」というS&Bの新製品です。きざんだわさびの茎が入っています。

I thought it was a good product and bought one without checking the label. I later found that it contained seiyou wasabi as well.

いい製品だと思って、表示を見ずに買ったのですが、後で、西洋わさびも入っていることに気付きました。

Finally, a tube of wasabi that contains 50% or more hon wasabi may have "hon wasabi shiyou" (hon wasabi used)" written on the package, while a tube of wasabi that contains less than 50% hon wasabi may have "hon wasabi iri" (hon wasabi contained) on the package.

Kona (= powder) wasabi, wasabi in powder form, is usually made from horse radish. Wasabi in a tube is called neri (= kneaded) wasabi. I'm not implying that neri wasabi is superior to kona wasabi or that hon wasabi is superior to seiyou wasabi (horse radish). I wouldn't mind at all having sashimi with kona wasabi because that is something I grew up with and kona wasabi, if properly mixed with lukewarm water (about 40C), is more pungent than hon wasabi.

Before the naga negi was completely done, I transferred it to a plate.

長ねぎに完全に火が通る前に、お皿に移しました。

I cut one chicken thigh into one-bite pieces, dusted with flour, and pan-dried them with some oil. Before they were completely done, I added the naga negi. I also added 50 ml soy sauce and 50 ml mirin. I simmered with the lid on.